Sideritis syriaca L. subsp. syriaca, 1753

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part M), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 651-689 : 656-657

Marrubium candidissimum Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 2: 583. 1753.

"Habitat in Creta?" RCN: 4255.

Lectotype (Turland in Jarvis & al. in Taxon 50: 512. 2001): Herb. Linn. No. 738.4, lower specimen ( LINN) . - Epitype (Turland in Jarvis & al. in Taxon 50: 513. 2001): Greece. Crete, Sfakia. Lefka Ori, 4km W of summit of Mt. Melindaou, 1,500m, 2 Jul 1994, Turland 815 (BM-000098230; iso- UPA).

Current name: Sideritis syriaca L. subsp. syriaca ( Lamiaceae ).

Note: Lacaita (in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 47: 155-159. 1925) observed that this name had been in use for the taxon subsequently known as M. incanum Desr. , but that the two Clifford sheets (illustrated by him as f. 2 and 3) are identifiable as M. globosum Montbr. & Auch. He identified Herb. Linn. 738.3 ( LINN) as a mixture of M. incanum and M. supinum L. , with sheet 738.4 (LINN) a further mixture of a species of Marrubium , and Sideritis syriaca . Lacaita did not formally choose a type for M. candidissimum , which has been associated with a number of different species of Marrubium at one time or another. As a result of this confusion, the name has fallen out of use in recent years. Typification of this name using any of the available Marrubium elements could have displaced one of the now established later names, and caused considerable confusion. Turland therefore typified the name using the specimen of S. syriaca , supported by an epitype, allowing M. candidissimum to fall into its synonymy.